El Dorado County History

Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County California with Illustrations 
and Biographical Sketches of its Prominentmen and Pioneers. 
Oakland 1883. Paolo Sioli, Publisher. Compiled by P. Sioli.

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper, Oct 2009.

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LOCAL HISTORY. 

NEGRO HILL. 

The first mining work done in the vicinity of Negro Hill was on the east side, adjoining the river, by a 
company of Mormons, in the year 1848, soon after, but in the same year, a company of Spaniards 
went to work on the south side of the hill, in Spanish Ravine, from a strip of ground about a thousand 
feet in length by one and a-half feet in width, and three feet in depth they took out over seven 
thousand dollars. The next work was in a deep sand bank just at the mouth of Spanish Ravine, in the 
fall of 1849, by August B. Newhall, from Lynn, Mass., a Negro by the name of Kelsey, a Methodist 
preacher, and other Negroes ; this locality was called Little Negro Hill, it being located between the 
river and the present Negro Hill. The gravel in said sand bank paid three hundred dollars and upwards, 
per day, to a company of five men. Little Negro Hill was discovered by Cornelius Van Noy, George 
Denett, Thomas Burns, Piatt Southard, M. Fogety, John Farley and John Donelly ; the whole hill paid 
from two to three ounces per day to the hand, the dirt being carted to the river and washed through 
a long torn. About this time (fall of 1849) three men, Messrs. Vosey, Long and French started a store 
and boarding house, the house being known as the Civil Usage House, and a good business was done 
here. Soon after Mr. Fish built another store in the vicinity and did good business up to 1852. 

In the spring of 1852, Conrad Benninger, Harvey Smith and Darius Clark sunk holes on the second 
bench back from the river, and found good dirt, it being a large flat. In one week after, there was every 
foot claimed and staked off for mining, and two Negroes from Massachusetts started a store and boarding 
house, around which quite a Negro village sprung up, and was called Big Negro Hill. On another portion 
of the flat the white men built quite a town, representing the present Negro Hill. Here Thos. Jenkins 
and Richard Rickard built a store, and Thomas Bennett and Wm. Trengove built a boarding house,  
being each the first one in town. The same year (1852) Dewitt Stanford, a brother of Leland Stanford, 
built a grocery store at Negro Hill, as did Horace and Frank Barton. Another store was built about the 
same time by Ben. Avery, our late minister to China, he opened with a lot of drugs, Yankee notions, etc. 
A short time later, about the fall of 1852 or spring of 1853, the Chinese began to flock in the camp, and 
built on another portion of the flat. So that by the end of 1853, the town could boast of a thousand or 
twelve hundred inhabitants, with stores of every description, saloons and dance houses by the dozen, 
and all seemed to do a thriving business. 

In the year 1853,. Leander Jennings and Alexander Fraser built a ditch from Salmon Falls to Negro Hills, 
a distance of eight miles, which carried about 300 inches of water, sold at $1.00 per inch, by which 
nearly the whole of the top of the hill has been sluiced off, and paid well. In 1855 Messrs. Clark, Boyd, 
Richards and Eastman built another ditch from near Salmon Falls, running it to Negro Hill, Growlers Flat, 
Jenny Lind Flat, Massachusetts Flat, Chile Hill, Condemned Bar and Long Bar, all of which are in a circuit 
of three miles ; so as a matter of course all the miners came to Negro Hill to buy their goods, and the 
result was, that business men did well for five or six years. After that the mines fell gradually in the
hands of the Chinese and business rapidly declined. All the white men who remained in the district, 
with the exception of two or three, are now engaged in farming. There is plenty of mining ground in 
this district yet untouched, but the ditches are not high enough to carry water to it. A preliminary 
survey for a ditch from near Auburn to Negro Hill has recently been made, and reported upon 
favorably. When such a ditch is constructed much treasure will be unearthed in this section. 

We have to refer to a visit of Judge Lynch at this place in the time when Thomas Jenkins and Richard 
Rickard were building their store in 1852 ; a Negro claiming the illustrious name of Andrew Jackson, 
stole a specimen worth about $10,00, and some clothing from the residence of Mr. Keith, the blacksmith, 
for which he was hung to a tree, near the Negro quarters, by a mob, before noon. 

In 1855 a lot of drunken white fellows on Negro Hill attacked the Negro quarters and in the fight one 
Negro was killed, for which Mr. Drew and others were arrested and tried at Coloma but were acquited. 

Growler's Flat was opened in 1852, by Henry Down, an English sailor, who was always growling, hence 
the name. 

Jenny Lind Flat was opened by Nathaniel Sutton and others 1852. 

Massachusetts Flat was opened in 1854, by Dr. Townsend. All paid well. At Jenny Lind Flat one 
night in 1853, a young man borrowed blankets to sleep in, the next morning he had forgotten about 
this fact, and walked off with the blankets ; a crowd went after him and brought him back, flogged him 
until the blood trickled down his heels ; they then took up a subscription in money and gave it to him 
with the advice never to steal again. 

Of late an agent of a Baltimore firm was here examining a chrome iron mine, the lead is ten or twelve 
feet across, and picks very free, it can be traced from the North to the South Fork of the American river, 
a distance of twelve miles. The result of said examination has been the letting of a contract for a ship 
cargo of chrome iron, to be delivered at Folsom at $6.50. There is iron enough in the mountains to 
supply the whole United States.